Can a business sue you for posting a negative review on Yelp?

Yelp users beware: Targets of your wrath may be more litigious than they appear.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

last updated 11 January 2015

The negative online customer review — like its cousin, the angry user comment — is not usually a paragon of civility. "Can someone please tell me why it's dark, dank, and smells like a sewer in here?" writes Yelp user Michele W. about Jake's Wayback Burger in Brooklyn, N.Y. Not very nice. And who knows if it's true? (Other reviews say Jake's is "pretty good.") But Michele's comment will live on forever on Jake's Yelp page, discouraging potential customers who don't fancy their burgers with a side of septic tank. Sites like Yelp and Angie's List can be a bane for businesses, and at least one business owner, Christopher Dietz in Virginia, isn't taking it anymore, says Justin Jouvenal at The Washington Post:

Angered by what she thought was shoddy work on her home, Fairfax resident Jane Perez did what has become the go-to form of retail vengeance in the internet age: She logged on to Yelp and posted scathing reviews of the D.C. firm that did the job.

Jouvenal reports that businesses are increasingly turning to the courts to push back against negative online reviews, part of a strategy, consumer advocates say, to force customers to think twice about mouthing off online. Perez says that defending herself in court will cost her thousands of dollars in legal fees. However, businesses say unfair, inaccurate, or just plain crazy reviews can lead to an appreciable decline in customers. Dietz claims that Perez has smeared his reputation and cost him $300,000 in business.